The evening was incredibly fun. I was fortunate to have my long-time cinematographer partner Matthew R Blute host a viewing party at his house. We conducted a live “Q&A” that would happen during commercial breaks, where I answered questions or told tales of the scenes that just were shot or stories from the production. The party was a mix of collaborators, filmmakers, and people who are friends but not in the film or TV industry. It was a blast.

What I didn’t prepare for was the outpouring of nice things people said on social media and the like. For example:

First time SVU director Sharat Raju certainly proved that he knew just how to tell this highly charged, yet intimate, story. Also remarkable was his clear collaboration with editor Karen Stern on the Rollins/Amaro scene. The two exhibited strong creative choices that made the exchange between the two gripping, tense and utterly believable. Watch it again and you’ll see what I mean. This scene is a stellar combination of writing, acting, direction and editing.

That, and the oh five hundred comments on Facebook to me – well, it’s all been too much. It’s totally overwhelming.

Anyway, so the other bit of news is that I’ve been asked back. I’m directing another episode in late January/early February, which is incredibly exciting. I was hoping to get asked back next season at least, but to be asked back this season is totally unexpected and I can’t wait to rejoin the SVU family for another go around.

If I can figure out how to do it, I’ll see if I can do a story analysis of the episode with an explanation of my choices, but I don’t know if it will be possible. Anyway, overall an incredible evening and more great things to come.